Firefighters. What ways have you seen idiots literally make their lives go up in flames?

In the city of Colorado Springs, the local news did a fluff piece about candle safety near Christmas.

After they were done filming, the owner of the store that they were filming in took the crew out to breakfast.

She didn't put out the candles and burned

several shops to the ground. The film crew was there to film her breakdown when they realized

what had caused the fire. I worked for a restoration company. A family cut a small tree down

and tried to stuff it up their fireplace to burn it. The flute was so crammed with leaves that smoke started to fill the living room.

They tried to pull the tree out and that's when it really caught fire.

They tried to pull it out of the house and they got as far as the front door.

All of them had second and third degree burns on their hands and arms,

and the fire destroyed the front room and entryway of their house.

The insurance company asked us if we thought it was a case of fraud, and we told them,

no, these people are just really stupid. A fairly common one, but the response was interesting.

Early February, Western Pennsylvania. A guy's pipes freeze on the coldest day of the year,

minus 8 degrees Fahrenheit. He tries to thaw them out with a propane torch and sets the wall on fire,

tries to put the fire out, and fails. Finally calls 911. Fire chief is half a block away and is on

scene in under a minute. The basement is fully

involved, main floor catching. The first engine arrives in under five minutes. Doors are

blocked by fire, exterior attack only. I was on the attack line, spraying water into

the second floor window. After 40 minutes, another firefighter comes to relieve me, but since I'd been getting

backspray, I was frozen to the ground. He has to pull me loose. Two hours later, we've knocked it

down. The insurance adjuster shows up. The assistant chief explains what started the fire.

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